Courts: Interpreters
(asked on 18th April 2016) - View Source
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many court cases have had to be rescheduled in each of the last five years because of problems with the interpreting or translating services required; and what was the additional cost incurred in each year as a result of such rescheduling.
Information on the number of trials listed in the criminal courts which were adjourned (ineffective) due to interpreter availability is published in Criminal Court Statistics; the relevant extract is set out below.
| Crown Courts | Magistrates’ Courts | ||||
Year | Number of trials | Adjourned due to interpreter availability | % of trials adjourned due to interpreter availability | Number of trials | Adjourned due to interpreter availability | % of trials adjourned due to interpreter availability |
2011 | 41,412 | 17 | 0.0% | 166,808 | 327 | 0.2% |
2012 | 38,432 | 34 | 0.1% | 156,671 | 608 | 0.4% |
2013 | 33,669 | 37 | 0.1% | 155,087 | 591 | 0.4% |
2014 | 35,974 | 26 | 0.1% | 158,984 | 524 | 0.3% |
2015 | 39,036 | 23 | 0.1% | 162,668 | 474 | 0.3% |
Associated costs for rescheduling such cases are not recorded.
The department continues to monitor the language services contract closely and work with the supplier to further drive improvements and reduce the cost on the taxpayer.